Does Fertility Affect Female Labour Participation Differently in Malaysia and Singapore?

The study examines the relationship between fertility and female labour participation, as a comparative analysis between Malaysia and Singapore-being two countries with relatively robust economies in Southeast Asia. The study covers the period from 1985 to 2015 as a basis for comparison between the countries. The ADF test of unit root and ARDL Bounds test were employed in examining the stationarity properties and long-run relationship among the chosen variables, while also addressing any possible endogeneity. The study equally employs the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regression in addressing the possible simultaneity problem which may arise in the coefficient estimation, while the Granger causality test was used to observe the direction of causation among the variables. The findings in each of the countries indicate that there is a negative relationship between fertility and female labour participation, with causality running from female labour participation through fertility, hence upholding the Role Incompatibility Hypothesis. Therefore, the answer to our topic question is in dissident: that the effect of fertility on female labour participation is the same in the two countries.